Yesterday our pastor gave a sermon of particular interest both in its contents and in its implications, relating to the unsung heroes of the New Testament. He spoke of people like Tertius [1] and Silas, who took down the words of the apostles as an amanuensis of the apostles, and made sure that they were faithfully rendered, giving thousands of years of believers a faithful record of what men like Peter and Paul had to say about our common faith. Still other men and women, largely unsung, braved the perils of robbers and perils of the deep and perils of sickness to hand-courier these letters to their intended audiences, ranging from people like Gaius (3 John) and Philemon (Philemon) to congregations like Corinth or Ephesus. Still others hosted the congregations of the early Church of God in their homes, people like Philemon (again) and Lydia, whose hospitality to the apostles allowed the Church of God to operate in the face of hostility from the synagogue and occasional problems with mobs and with Roman authorities.

In life, I think we often disregard the fundamental importance of logistics. In the Hebrew scriptures, for example, few people appreciate the passages of the nitty gritty details of Hebrew religious and social life relating to the service of the Levites. The books of 1st and 2nd Chronicles, which detail those, as well as long passages in Leviticus, Numbers, Ezra, and Nehemiah, are not well-read areas of the Bible at all. Yet, we should specifically note that it was a lack of appreciation for the service of the Levites in the first temple period that created the context by which so few families of Levite but non-priestly origin returned to Jerusalem during the Second Temple period. What is the point of subjecting yourself to drudgery in terms of labor where there is a total lack of respect and honor and appreciation coming from the privileged priests one serves, right? Here the lack of appreciation of such service directly impacted the availability of people to serve. Tens of thousands of priests wanted to enjoy the privileges of a rebuilt temple, but only hundreds of Levites could be found to conduct the security duty, cooking, music, and other responsibilities that were necessary for functioning temple services. If we better appreciated such mundane tasks and their importance to the smooth running of our own worship as the body of Christ, it is likely that there would both be more people willing to serve, and that those who served would have a better time of it knowing that they were appreciated and respected for their labors and not merely taken advantage of like some sort of drudges.

Paul’s appreciation for the logistics of service are noteworthy, in that they reflect that godly people are attentive to what others do and make sure that others know how their labors of love are appreciated. Let us not forget, after all, that one of the more conspicuous offices of the early Church of God, that of the deacon, came about because of a concern over logistics, namely the provision of food to the poor widows of Judea and the diaspora, who were concerned about prejudice leading to an inequality in treatment (see Acts 6). The fact that these deacons, in particular Stephen and Philip, ended up being church leaders in terms of baptism and public proclamation of the faith, areas where we in the Church of God have tended to place much more honor and respect, does not change the fact that their service came initially through their attention to logistical issues about the distribution of food to poor, elderly believers so that the apostles could focus on the public proclamation of faith.

Our knowledge about the early Church of God and its behaviors demonstrates the importance of many people who remain lost to history, given what we know from those few who happened to be mentioned. At all places in times in God’s workings with humanity, especially once He moved from working with an individual (like Enoch or Abraham) or a family (like the family of Jacob), to working with the nation of Israel and then the Israel of God that included Gentile believers, logistics was a matter of considerable importance. If animals were to be slaughtered, or if people were going to be taught God’s ways in homes, villages, and congregations or synagogues, someone had to do that work. If songs were to be sung and music was to be played, and resources were to be gathered for distribution elsewhere or use in building and humanitarian projects, someone had to gather those resources together, guard them from thieves, guide them in transit to their destination, and then distribute them where they were necessary. All of that is logistics. The same sort of attention to logistics is required today. If we want to help brethren in another country, people have to gather together money or resources, travel to a given country, or be able to send aid to that country where other faithful men and women can then distribute those resources. To have functioning services, we need people skilled in hall rental or setup and takedown or construction, or people hospitable enough to open their houses, or visit people and drive those who are unable to travel at distance themselves, we need people who can cook and serve food to others, people who can speak, people who can set up communications equipment for sound amplification or radio or television or internet broadcasting, for writing and printing and musical performance.

All of these are logistical matters, matters that require a lot of private effort, and work where only a few conspicuous people may gain any credit or attention for it. Beyond this, there is the day-to-day logistical matters of praying for and encouraging others and being a good example in one’s local community through one’s personal example, a wise steward of the gifts that God has given in all aspects of life, from our jobs to our abilities and hobbies, to our behavior with friends and family and fellow brethren, and coworkers and strangers. Knowing the importance of such mundane matters of logistics allows us not only to appreciate the importance of modest and mundane tasks, but also to recognize that we need to honor others for performing faithfully in such matters for the benefit of everyone else. Let us therefore salute such people as often as possible, and let no one feel that they are taken for granted or unappreciated or disregarded, or whose service is slandered as being for evil motive, and in so doing, let us raise the honor of service in all facets, such that all people are encouraged to serve as they are able, in the knowledge that such service is respected and honored in the eyes of both God and other people.

[1] https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2011/08/30/i-tertius-wrote-this-epistle-a-musing-on-the-language-of-the-renewed-covenant-texts/